Textile machines



J. K. P. MACKIE TEXTILE MACHINES Filed June 26, 1962 ma@ m atent Oiice 3,106,055 Patented Oct. S, 1963 1 3,106,055 TEXTILE MACHINES .lohn K. P. Mackie, Belfast, Northern Ireland, assigner to .iam-es Mackie il Sons, Limited, Belfast, Northern lreiand v Filed .lune 26, 1962, Ser. No. 205,383 Claims priority, application Great Britain June 29, 1961 Claims. (Cl. 57-58.59)

This 'invention relates to the spinning of yarn from sliver.

For the twisting or plying of yarns there are sometimes used machines of the so-called two-for-one inflow type :in which the material to be twisted is taken from a stationary supply package and is caused to be ballooned by a flyer and -delivered to a package within the balloon on which it is wound. For each rotation of the iiyer, two turns of twist are put into the yarn, one on the feed side of the flyer and the other on the delivery side.

Such a machine does not suggest itself as a satisfactory machine for converting sliver into yarn. The distance from the drafting head which delivers the sliver to the eye of the iiyer is necessarily rather long and sliver is very weak in tension. lOn the feed side of the flyer only half the full amount of twist is put into the sliver and, consequently there is only a small strengthening of the sliver unil it has passedbeyond the flyer and the frequency of breakages is high.

The invention is concerned with improving the machine in that respect.

In accordance with the invention, the whole of the twist is put into the sliver on the feed side of the yer with a consequent strengthening of the sliver and reduction in the frequency of breakages. This is effected by the provision in the sliver path of a false twist tube which is carried round with the flyer and is rotated about its own axis in the direction required to allow the twist which is put in on the delivery side of the flyer -to run back past the tube rinto the material on the feed side of the flyer.

Preferably, the false tube is carried by the flyer and is set thereon with its axis vertical. Means have to be provided for rotating it about its axis and these can be means provided essentially for another purpose. Its disposition should be such that there are no abrupt changes of direction in the sliver path leading to it which would prevent the twist from running freely back into the balloon.

The spindle on which the yarn is wound can be driven independently of the flyer as in the case of twisting machine with which our ,copending patent application Serial No. 205,384, led June 26, 1962, is concerned. The yarn speed is determined by the speeds of the delivery rollers of the drafting head. The degree of twist of the finally produced yarn is dependent on the ratio of the yarn speed and the flyer speed which are variable independently of each other.

An example of a machine in accordance with the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE l shows, somewhat diagrammatically, a single spindle of the machine; and

FIGURE 2 is a section plan taken on the line A-A in FIGURE l, showing the drive for the false twist tube.

FGURE l shows sliver 2 being delivered to a spindle 4 of the machine and after being twisted into yarn. The sliver which has passed through a drafting head 6 hav- .fing delivery rollers `S` passes through a stationary guide eye 10 attached to the machine framework to and through a false twist tube 12 which forms the eye of a rotary flyer 14. Thence, the sliver passes up through a stationary tube 16 arranged coaxially with the flyer to a pair of driven take-up rollers 18 providing a yielding nip so that they act merely to tension the yarn. The

yarn is then laid on a package Z0 carried by the spindle 4, by a buttery yarn guide 22 which is reciprocated by a traverse scroll 24.

The flyer which 'is in the form of a disc, is rotated about a vertical axis by a drive including an internally toothed belt 26 positively engaging a toothed pulley 23 on the flyer shaft 30. Rotation of the iiyer causes the length of sliver between the false twist tube 12 and the stationary eye 10- to billow into a balloon at 32 which is whirled around the spindle 4, the take-up roller 13 and the tube 1'6, between inner and outer balloon guide rings 34 and 36.

For each revolution of the flyer, two turns of twist are given to the sliver, one turn, were it not for the false twist tube, being inserted between the delivery rollers -8 and the eye 10 and the other between the flyer and the take-up rollers 118 within the balloon. The length of the sliver from the delivery rollers 8 to the flyer is necessarily long and if only one turn of twist is put into the sliver on its way to the flyer for each revolution of the flyer frequent breakages are liable to occur. To avoid this, the false twist tube isV rotated in the same direction as the iiyer so as to cause the twist inserted on the delivery side of the flyer between it and the stationary tube 16 to run past the twist tube 12 and add itself to the twist put in on the feed side of the yer. The sliver isl thus considerably strengthened where strength is most necessary. Provided that there are no surfaces against which the sliver is strongly pressed as occurs at an abrupt change in the direction of the sliver path, the twist can run back as far asthe delivery rollers 8. The amount of twist put into the sliver depends on the flyer speed and on the linear speed ofthe sliver through the machine which is determined by the delivery rollers 8. v

The take-up rollers 18 and spindle 4 are driven independently of the flyer by a toothed belt 42 which drives a pulley 44 rotatably mounted on the flyer spindle and integral with one, 413.6, of a pair of equal diameter sun wheels 46, 48 the other one, 48, of which is carried by the tube 161 on the other side of the flyer and within thenballoon. The sun wheels are connected together through a pair of coaxial planet wheels 50, 52 of equal Idiameter and mounted one on each side of the flyer on a spindle 54 passing through and carried by the flyer. Each sun wheel is connected to the adjacent planet wheel by' one of a pair of integrally toothed belts 56, 58. Thus, rotation of the sun wheel ed by its pully 44 causes an equal rotation of the other sun wheel 4S within the balloon irrespective of the speed rotation of the flyer.

The sun wheel 48 is integral with a gear wheel 6d which drives a spindle driving shaft 62 off-set from the axis of rotation of the ilyer. The shaft 62 is provided. between its ends with a spiral gear 64 meshing with a similar gear in driving connection with one of the take up rollers :18. The other roller is lightly loaded so that only a yielding nip is provided and the rollers Vdo no more than tension the yarn in the lballo-on.

The upper end Yof the spindle driving shaft 62 is also provided with a spiral gear y66 meshing with a corresponding gear `68 on the traverse scroll 24 so that the traverse scroll is driven directly by the spindle driving shaft. Rotation of the scroll causes the butterfly yarn Iguide 22, which engages in the traversing groove 70 of the scroll, to be reciprocated parallel to the axis of the spindle so that the yarn is laid evenly onto the package carried by the spindle. The spindle is driven from the shaft through the scroll to which it is connected by a chain drive 72 through a slipping clutch 74.

The gearing between the spindle and the take-up rollers is arranged so that the take-up speed of the package, with no clutch slippage, always exceeds the let-off speed of the `delivery rollers of the drafting hea ln use, therefore, the clutch is continuously slipping so that the spindle is driven at the correct speed to take up the yarn delivered to it. The pressure on the clutch determines the tension of the yarn between the rollers ld and the package and this pressure is adjustable so that a correct yarn tension can be obtain-ed for any yarn specification.

The spindle 4, traverse scroll 2d, take-up rollers 1S and tube le together with the drive for the take up rollers and spindle, are carried by a `cornrnon bracket dia grammatically shown at 76 within the balloon. This bracket is mounted on the tube 16 which in turn is mounted in bearings on a projection 78 extending from the upper side of the ilyer. Means have to be provided to hold or immobilize the tube 16 and hence the bracket 76 against rotation with the flyer. This is done by positively connecting a toothed sun wheel il@ fixed to the tube 16 within the balloon to a stationary fixed co-axial toothed sun wheel S2 of the saine diameter surrounding the flyer shaft outside the balloon, through a pair or" equal coaxial toothed planet wheels del, S6 mounted one on each side of the flyer on a common spindle passing through and carried by the `flyer. The sun wheels are connected to the adjacent planet wheels by means of internally toothed bolts 8d As the sun wheel 32 outside the balloon is `fixed in a stationary position and as the sun wheel within the balloon is of the same diameter and as the two planet wheels are of the same diameter, the sun wheel d within the balloon is held stationary when the llyer rotates.

The false twist tube l2 through which the sliver passes is mounted on a bracket 9@ carried by the flyer and is rotated through a pulley 192 on it which engages and is frictionally driven by the back of the belt 38 (see FIG- URE 2). The tube is thus rotated in the same direction as the flyer. of the flyer is, therefore, free to run back and adds itself to the twist which is put into the sliver in the balloon.

The speed and/or design of the false twist tube is such that at least the twist on the delivery side of the flyer is inserted in the balloon on the feed side, but in practice it may be desirable to use the tube to insert a turn or turns of false twist on the balloon further to strengthen the yarn. This false twist will disappear as The twist inserted in the delivery side the yarn passes through the tube and will not be present on the delivery side.

lt is not essential to provide separate independent drives for the take-up rollers and the Iflyer as shown in the drawings. The speed of the yarn through the machine can be varied by varying the speed of the delivery rollers of the drafting head as therefore can the degree of twist imparted to the sliver. Consequently, a more simple form of drive can be adopted in which the take-up rollers are driven through the flyer.

I claim:

1. A spinning machine of the two-for-one inow type having a rotatable llyer to balloon sliver around a package support, a bracket plate on which said package support is carried and which is rotatably mounted on an axial extension of the lyer, a false twist tube mounted on the Iflyer in the sliver path, and means to rotate the false twist tube about its own axis in the direction required to allow the twist, which is put into the sliver on the delivery side of the liyer, to run back past the said false twist tube into the sliver on the feed side of the yer.

2. A spinning machine as claimed in claim l in which the false twist tube is carried by the flyer with its axis vertical and arranged so that there are no abrupt changes in the sliver path leading to it the tube being rotated in the same direction as the flyer.

3, A spinning machine as claimed in claim lfin which the means to drive the false twist tube comprises a toothed belt extending between a planet wheel carried by the flyer, and a sun wheel .xed to the bracket within the balloon.

4. A spinning machine as claimed in claim 3 in which the outer surface of the toothed belt frictionally engages a pulley connected to the false twist tube.

5. A spinning machine as claimed in claim l, in ywhich the bracket plate isfheld stationary despite the rotation of the flyer by the said means employed to rotate the false twist tube.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 519,491 Baker May 8, v1894 1,828,136 Freelander Oct. 20, 1931 2,143,203 Maxham Ian. l0, 1939 2,575,476 Truitt Nov. 20, 1951 2,737,773 Clarkson Mar. 13, i956 

1. A SPINNING MACHINE OF THE TWO-FOR-ONE INFLOW TYPE HAVING A ROTATABLE FLYER TO BALLOON SILVER AROUND A PACKAGE SUPPORT, A BRACKET PLATE ON WHICH SAID PACKAGE SUPPORT IS CARRIED AND WHICH IS ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON AN AXIAL EXTENSION OF THE FLYER, A FALSE TWIST TUBE MOUNTED ON THE FLYER IN THE SILVER PATH, AND MEANS TO ROTATE THE FALSE TWIST TUBE ABOUT ITS OWN AXIS IN THE DIRECTION REQUIRED TO ALLOW THE TWIST, WHICH IS PUT INTO THE SILVER ON THE DELIVERY SIDE OF THE FLYER, TO RUN BACK PAST THE SAID FALSE TWIST TUBE INTO THE SILVER ON THE FEED SIDE OF THE FLYER. 